Edit: Because of the discussions of Activision and Nintendo, and discussion of problems, I mentioned just them, and then went etc... for others.  The post below is meant to be overall, on how companies you think will remain strong can end up failing.  Plug in Microsoft, Sony, etc... also into the original post.

So, in the usual round of cheerleading, you have individuals saying to not worry about Nintendo, Activision, etc...  People see today and presume everything will be ok.  OBVIOUSLY Nintendo knows what they are doing.  How can they fail?  They have been around FOREVER.  And Activision has Call of Duty and others.  So, no need to worry, right?

Well, check this out:

You know what that is?  That is the Atari name and logo from the movie Bladerunner.  You see, back in the heyday of Atari, you had people predicting Atari would be around forever, even into the 21st century and be epically huge still and synonymous with videogames.  Well, hate to tell you this, but they aren't. 

If you think one minute your beloved company will be around forever, and they can't face major issues even over the next few years, you are fooling yourself.  It can happen.  It has happened, and will happen again.

how long did atari last as the no. 1 earner?


edit: i looked it up for you, atari always did poorly. Their only profitable years were 1979-1982. All other years were losses.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/atari-corporation-history/

Well this kind of thing is bound to happen to every company sooner or later. Why not just enjoy what they're giving out now and leave them to worry about themselves.

Don't worry about Sony, they'll be around forever!

Or it was a product placement ad?

Once Nintendo is stupidly sold to someone like Warner Communications and everyone like Miyamoto currently involved with the company steps down (including Yamauchi selling his shares as well), then I'll start worrying about the company.

They owned the home videogame market from the late 70s until the crash of the early 1980s that took out everyone.  Even at the bottom, they still sold like 1 million 2600 systems.  I still have visions of a guy going into to buy a 2600 at Toys R Us instead of an NES.  They were also king of the arcades to from when Pong went out until the same period of the crash.

Pretty much though, what you saw with Atari is the norm.  Some console dominates on top, then the maker stops dominating.  There are individuals too young to remember this, who ended up presuming that Sony would be on top forever, and the Playstation brand being THE brand.  In this, individuals who don't know this history get a bad case of hubris.

With about every time here, something comes along that people don't see, and disrupts the order of things, just as the Wii did.  Now you are seeing the smart device market playing the role home computers had in the past, and could put a big hurt on things.

i laughed way more than i should have.

If someone thinks they are untouchable, it's probably them.

Time Warner owner Warner Bros. (they put out Blade Runner) and Atari at the time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

It could be seen as product placement, but other top companies in the day were also there.

You can google "Blade Runner curse" to get ideas on what happened:

http://everything2.com/title/Blade+Runner+Curse

Extending it beyond Blade Runner, it is the case of where products appear in futurist stuff, at the point where they slip into obscurity.  It happens.  People presume things.

Another example is the Wire Magazine (I hope I have the right magazine here) where Sonic was on the cover and they talked about how Sega was ready to take over the world.  At one time, Sega was beating Nintendo.

Edit: Here is the issue of Wired I was talking about...